Cancer is a class of diseases resulting from uncontrolled proliferation and non-systemic growth of transformed cells. Mostly, cancers are caused by mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes which occur due to environmental, genetic or other causes. In the early stages, cancer cells proliferate and invade and destroy nearby tissues. In the later stages, they invade the circulatory system and spread to distant areas, ultimately resulting in the death of the victim.
In order to treat cancers, surgeries, radiotherapies, chemotherapies, and the like are applied, and various substances known to have anticancer effect are used. Although most chemical anticancer agents exhibit the effect of controlling cell growth, they are without selectivity for cancer cells and tend to show toxicity to normal cells. Accordingly, development of new anticancer agents which provide superior selectivity cancer cells, have less toxicity and are capable of overcoming resistance is needed.
Feathers are one of the epidermal variants that form the distinctive outer covering on birds. The major component of a feather is keratin. Embryologically, it corresponds to the hair of mammals or the scale of reptiles. The feather of birds consists of a calamus (or hollowshaft) which inserts into a follicle in the skin, a rachis which is connected to the calamus and serves as the main shaft, and a plurality of barbs which are branched from the rachis. Small barbs are entangled with each other to form a vane. In general, a feather has brown or black melanin pigments and thus has a color. Typically, it is composed of fibrous hard proteins insoluble in water or aqueous salt solution. The feather is derived from the bone and is rich in calcium. Connected by calcium chains, the feather is air-permeable and structurally adequate for flying.
The scale of fish refers to a small rigid plate that covers the skin of fish. The scale of fish is derived from the dermis (consisting of connective tissue). It has various shapes and numbers depending on species. For instance, the numbers of vertically aligned are 33 for a carp, 27 for a crucian carp, 150 for a salmon, and 118 for a trout. The chemical composition of a scale is 41˜84% of dry organic components and about 59% of ash components. Most of the organic components are hard protein collagen (24%) and lepidin (76%). As for a carp, the ash components account for 29.58%. They are Ca3(PO4)2 (51.42%), Mg3(PO4)2 (6.45%) and CaCO3 (42.17%). The contents of calcium phosphate and calcium carbonate are almost the same. The scales are obtained as byproduct during the processing of fish, but are mostly discarded. Some of them are powdered after heating for use as feed or fertilizer.
The inventors of the present invention have carried out researches to find substances from natural products that can prevent and inhibit proliferation of cancer cells. As a result, we have found that a composition comprising a feather of birds, particularly a calamus and a rachis, and a scale of fish, a scale transformed from the dermis, a degenerated or cornified variant of a scale, or a scale or horny scale of reptiles has superior anticancer effect and completed the present invention.